To celebrate my 37 birthday I bought myself tickets to Kings Island with Fast Lane as a gift from my wife. A friend of mine went with me as my wife does not like rides for the most part.
Anyway on the hottest day of the year the Fast Lane really came in handy. While the park was not that crowded the last thing I needed to do was stand in line and bake in the sun.
We arrived at the park at 9:40, got our Fast Lane tickets and walked through the stores to try to stay in the AC. Finally the park was opened and we hit Diamondback. Honestly here we arrived to the station about the same time as the normal line but the rest of the day Fast Lane was a huge help.
Due to the heat we didn't make it the entire day and actually spent time in shows just to cool off. The British Show was bad, the magician was horrific, the Country show was not too bad. Also rode Boo Blasters 4 times as that was in the AC. My friend needed something minor form the first aid station and that was a great place to cool off. We left around 6:30-7p as I was on the verge of heat exhaustion/stroke, unfortunately not making it to night. Still a good day go getting in 26 rides.
Ride count:
Adventure Express
Backlot Stunt Coaster - 2x
Boo Blasters - 4x
Congo Falls
Diamondback - 3x
Drop Tower - (this was on the sign as closed when we entered but evidently they got it operational)
Flight of Fear - 2x
Flying Ace - first time riding, for a kids coaster it was pretty quick/intense
Inveretigo - 2x
Race for Your Life
Shake, Rattle & Roll
The Beast - 2x
The Racer
Viking
Vortex - 2x
White Water Canyon
Couple of comments: Instead of the 15 dollar unlimited drinks in the souvenir cup, why not offer a 15 dollar unlimited drink band that doesn't require carrying around the cup. Though that did come in handy yesterday and I stuck mainly with water.
Why did they remove the misting stations and replace it with a produce stand. How is one supposed to eat a full pineapple or watermelon?
Boo Blasters had one of the best crews in the park.

I'll put up a full trip report later. But Fast Lane did come in handy even though most lines were non-existent. Due to the heat severely taking a toll on my body (20 years and 40 lbs ago I would have been better) we only got in 26 rides, 3 Diamondback 2 on beast and 4 on the Haunted House ride (I hate the new name). Was shocked to find no misting fans around being replaced by fruit that requires a knife to eat. Bought the 15 dollar wrist band for drinks but was disappointed that they wouldn't honor it at the fudge shop where the Coke Freestyle was. Overall a good time and with the heat not having to stand in line with the 108 degree weather was a blessing. Hopefully next year me and my friend plan our annual park trip (we went to CP last year) in May.

I was on the SOB on 7/9/06 shortly before the train that caused the injuries (as oblivious as I am it could have been that train). It was my first time on the ride, I remember hearing a cracking noise at one point during the ride and noticed it was extremely rough ride. When the ride came into the station it was not the cheering you usually hear but more of a quiet nervous sound as if something wasn't right and heard some others complaining of pain. I felt weird but then got an ice cream, walked on to Vortex (literal walk on, the gates opened as I got there), then we left just as the first responders were arriving on the scene. So I was one of the last riders to experience the loop which was the best part of the ride. Next couple of days I was sore with symptoms close to whiplash but nothing major. I also would agree that when the ride came back online it wasn't as rough but still did not find it to be a fun ride.

Thanks for the clarification on the 20 oz drinks. Really don't want to carry a cup around all day Saturday but still sounds to be a good deal. My goal is to hit 100 rides on Saturday with the Fast Lane with at least 5 on DB & Beast ea.

Awesome. Looking forward to it. I didn't renew my pass this season due to my new part time job and other expenses so this will probably be my one time to KI this year. Goal is to ride Diamond Back at least 5 times and Beast at least at night front seat. Not to mention Invertigo for only the second time. One ride I will not use fast pass on is Firehawk as I simply don't like that ride.

So how does Fast Lane work? I got Fast Lane passes for my birthday for this Saturday. What should I expect? What would the average wait time be if any?
Also where do the Fast Lane entry points begin? I'm assuming for Stunt Track & Diamond Back they use the SRO & former Fast Pass lanes. What about Beast, Racer, etc?

Did not ride Mean Streak on purpose. Rode it last year when I had a much shorter visit to the park and did not like it at all, way to rough to be fun (for me).
Friday's crowd wasn't that bad, Saturday was bad plus they had two company events that day as well. Though if me and my friend go there again next year it would be a Sunday Monday trip or a Thursday/Friday trip.

Just got back from a great trip to Cedar Point where if the theme was "Do It All" it would be mission accomplished.
We left my house at 5:30am on Friday morning in Verona, KY and drove from there through Dayton in one of the heaviest downpours of rain I have ever driven in (and I drove through Tropical Storm Faye in 2008). That slowed us down about an hour but we kept going only stopping at a rest area that warned us about the lying and non-creative beggars (they evidently kept telling the same lies) and heard two guys in the bathroom talking about how it would take a guy as big as Hulk Hogan to kill them...we got the heck out as quickly as possible, and I loaded the directions to Cedar Point in my Iphone (as I knew the navigation system would not know where Breakers Express was.) When we finally arrived in Sandusky the navigation took me to first street and I turned left towards the causeway rather than right towards the hotel. The girl at the parking window was nice, gave us a turn around ticket, though the traffic directors sent me in the wrong direction so we went down the row of houses before turning around and once again driving through the parking lot finally arriving at Breakers Express. The check in and ticket buying process (for my friend, I have a KI platinum pass) was fast and painless. Then we were finally on our way to the park. Also the Car Locator feature on the Cedar Point app is awesome. We finally made it to the park and hit our first ride Raptor, which was an hour wait, which worried me about the rest of Day 1 as I thought it may be a sign of crowding, the ride was awesome and we moved on, and it was the longest wait of the day. Other notes from the day:
*Rode Top Thrill Dragster with only a 10-15 minute wait. Guy in front of me lost a pair of glasses he was holding for his friend that rode on the train before him.
*Should have only been a 30 minute wait on Mel Force but the operators just as we got to the gate, wasted 10 minutes taking a train off the tracks for no good reason.
*Surprise of the day was how much I enjoyed Wicked Twister which only had a 15 minute wait
*WindSeeker was about a 15 minute wait and was an ok ride. It is very windy at the top.
*Got soaked on Snake River Falls
* The Midway Market was a great value for the meal for the day at 12.99.
* We rode every major ride on Day 1 other than Maxair, Iron Dragon, & Maverick
Day 2: Arrived at 8:40 for early ride time. The girl taking the tickets was confused by the Kings Island logo and had to ask three people if it was valid. Cedar Fair really needs to train the employers better. Anyway got in and didn't realize that people ran as if they were in the Running of the Bulls. We of course were heading towards Maverick but were beat by the marathon runners. Still had a 30 minute wait despite early ride time and the line seemed to move slow. Ride was great. Second day since we got most of the major rides out of the way, we took our time and didn't worry about the ridiculous lines. Most disapointing ride of the day was Shoot The Rapids as we barely got wet, though Thunder Canyon more than made up for that so much that me and my friend used the "family" dryer just to dry off enough to walk comfortably.
Lunch on Day 2 we went outside the park to the Brown Derby Roadhouse which was excellent.
We came back later that night to ride a few more rides and caught the Wheels Extreme Show. Got in Wildcat, Dragster, & Raptor as we left the park around 8:30 after 2 long days at the park.
Ride Count:
Top Thrill Dragster 2
Raptor 2
Cedar Creek Mine Ride 2
Wicked Twister 2
Rest of rides - 1
Blue Streak
Calypso
Cedar Downs Racing Derby
CP & Lake Erie Railroad
Corkscrew
Disaster Transport
Gemini
Iron Dragon
Magnum XL-200
Mantis
Matterhorn
Maverick
Millennium Force
Power Tower
Shoot The Rapids
Sky Ride
Sky Hawk
Snake River Falls
Super Himalaya
Thunder Canyon
Wildcat
WindSeeker
Top 5 Coasters
1. Top Thrill Dragster
2. Maverick
3. Millennium Force
4. Wicked Twister
5. Raptor
Worst coaster: Disaster Transport
Best non-coaster ride: Sky Hawk
Worst : Shoot The Rapids
Also Breakers Express was a good hotel and place to stay, not sure why it gets such bad reviews and the cost was on par with other hotels such as Fairfield Inn or Hampton Inn, especially with the discounted ticket.